Market Overview

The new graduate recruitment service market (total 7 services) in Japan for FY2022 generated 131,240 million yen, a rise by 7.1% from the previous fiscal year. In addition to stable demand by companies to recruit new graduates, resume of face-to-face services including assembling events that had been stagnant during the COVID-19 crisis, and diversified recruitment methods backed by high demand by companies to contact students from early stages due to the seller’s market have contributed to increase the demand for using overall new graduate recruitment services and has expanded the market.

Noteworthy Topics

Influence of Employment Linked Internships to the Market

In April 2023 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) have agreed to revise the definition of internships for students who are to graduate from universities in March 2025 and onward. This has allowed companies to utilize the information on students obtained from the internships they provide for students who are graduating from universities (only Type 3: “Internships for general and specialized skills" can be used) for their recruitment procedures.

Against this backdrop, internships for recruitment have become more important. At the time of this research, the influence of such internships to the new graduate recruitment service market is observed positively such as in increased numbers of companies that place ads for internship enrollment at job hunting websites and events/seminars, and that participate in internship events to increase applicants. With increased significance in internships, expectations on new graduate recruitment services to increase internship applicants are high among companies.

The recruitment trend of newly graduating students in March 2026 when newly defined internships seem to fully grow gathers attention.  

Future Outlook

The new graduate recruitment service market (total 7 services) in Japan is projected to increase to 138,560 million yen in FY2023, a rise by 5.6% on YoY and to 145,970 million yen in FY2024, up by 5.3% on YoY.

As more companies are willing to recruit new graduates, demand for new graduate recruitment services increases furthermore, which may diversify the demand for recruitment methods and services. By obtaining demand from various companies looking for new personnel through diversified services utilizing digital technologies, the market is likely to expand for the time being.

Research Outline